A wide variety of paint trays are available for holding paint or stain for use with roller applicators.
Many prior art paint trays are fabricated from metal or heavy cardboard and require the use of a protective liner for lining the tray if it is desired to avoid the trouble and inconvenience of cleaning the tray in preparation for reuse, with the protective liner being removed and discarded after a single use, thereby constituting an unwanted expense.
Paint trays of the prior art are most usually in the form of an open rectangle in plan, having an angularized interior bottom wall which serves as a platform leading to a well for receiving paint or stain, with the platform being provided with upstanding ribs over which an applicator is rolled for removing excess liquid from the applicator.
Such angularization of the paint tray bottom wall decreases substantially the size of the well, thereby reducing the amount of paint which can be held by the tray.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,103,999 discloses a cardboard paint tray formed from a cut-out having a complicated system of folding lines and flaps which must be erected to form the tray.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,622,844, a thermoplastic paint tray having a separate cover which can be lost or misplaced, is disclosed.